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March 2009

Tuesday, 03 March 2009

As promised, Panasonic introduced the GH1 at the PMA Show in Las Vegas today. The GH1 builds on the success of the hot-selling G1 by adding HD 1080p/24p video capability. A new Lumix G Vario HD 14–140mm (28–280mm-e) ƒ/4–5.8 ASPH. MEGA O.I.S. lens (shown), specifically designed for use with video capture, has been added to the lens lineup, along with a new wide-angle 7–14mm (14–28mm-e) ƒ/4 ASPH. zoom lens. (Sure, zoom-zoom. Hope they haven't forgotten about that 20 they promised me!)

The Hans R. Schmid Beteiligungs GmbH, Offenburg, acquired the majority shareholding
in the company in September 2008. For majority shareholder
Hans R. Schmid, a devoted supporter of the company’s products, who had described
his commitment as a matter of personal importance, there was no alternative
to filing for insolvency any more.

Although it had already been obvious at the time of the take-over that a successful
restructuring would cost substantial effort, Schmid accepted the responsibility and
acted determinedly. Additional specialists were employed, weak points in the company
were examined and millions were invested et al. [sic] in production and quality management.

Due to these measures quick progress could be made, however, the massive failures
of the past could not be resolved in the required time. When recently financial and
other old liabilities turned up, which had not been known to the new shareholder at
the time of the take-over, it became evident that a financial reorganization would not
be possible even by investing further millions. This all the more, as additionally negotiations
with important business partners, banks and the attempt to obtain public
funds failed.

In spite of considerable risk of loss the new shareholder invested repeatedly until the
very end and has preserved the company and the hope to maintain 131 jobs for a
long time. Now the insolvency could not be avoided any longer. In total Schmid invested
millions in the two-figure range.

Monday, 02 March 2009

Well, no sooner had I posted the item below than word came of the Samsung NX, Samsung/Pentax's answering gun to Panasonic/Olympus's Micro 4/3—an interchangeable-lens but mirror-box-less compact camera that will have an APS-C size sensor (that is to say, as big as the sensor in most digital SLRs and much bigger than the ones in digital point-and-shoots, a.k.a. "consumer digicams").

Note that the NX is not yet a camera—it's semi-vaporware. The current announcement is essentially a promissory note from Samsung saying, "We're working on this." Despite which, a few tasty CAD renderings and some technical details fly very nicely at this PMA, which is starved for news.

Looks nice, huh? Scale is hard to convey on a monitor, but look at that hot shoe for an indication of just how wee this'll be.

They're saying "second half of 2009," which is moved up from the original announcement of "sometime in 2010." Which I would take to mean: the G1 is selling nicely and we're rarin' to compete in this segment.

By the way, if anybody thinks Micro 4/3 and whatever this new category will end up being called (Micro APS-C?) won't take over the lower end of what is now the entry-level DSLR market, I respectfully suggest they think again. The mirror-box/prism assembly on any DSLR is a significant and relatively immutable part of the cost of manufacturing the hardware parts of a digital SLR, and substantial savings will be realized in manufacture if it can be replaced by the EVF / always-on Live View of the Micro-type cameras. This alone predicts at least a moderate success for this type of camera in its niche of the market.

And who knows, depending on how well the public groks the concept, they could take off. (They'll need a little better sensor than the one in the G1 if they're to do so, however.)

ADDENDUM #1: There's been some speculation that the "Micro APS-C" camera from Samsung might have a Pentax K-mount. But don't forget the all-important dimension of flange distance—the distance from the mounting plate of the lens to the sensor or film surface. A lensmount is not just a spec for diameter, bayonet, electronic and/or mechanical communication, and fit; it also must specify flange distance. As should be obvious, a lens designed for a greater flange distance can be used on a camera specified for a shorter flange distance by using an adapter as a spacer to bridge the gap, but the opposite can't be true—you can't use a lens designed for a shorter flange distance on a camera designed for a longer one.

Any camera without a mirror-box that left room for the phantom mirror-box would be leaving half its advantage on the table. Thus, the new Samsung will almost certainly not be a K-mount camera, and its lenses will not be usable on K-mount cameras, in the same way that Micro 4/3 lenses cannot be used on regular 4/3 cameras. K-mount lenses will not be usable on it except (perhaps; we don't know yet) with an adapter.

ADDENDUM #2:I thought this might be pertinent here. No doubt you've seen this or something like it before, but here it is as a reminder.

If you can, save this illustration and open it up on your computer at a size such that the"35mm 'full frame'" rectangle (and all the fine-rule rectangles surrounding the smaller sizes) is exactly 1 x 1.5 inches (24x36mm) on your monitor, and you'll be seeing all the sensor sizes at the correct scale.

It certainly gives you an indication of why the Four-Thirds System sensor in the Panasonic G1 might be preferable to, say, the 1/1.7" sensor in the Canon G10—it has over five times the area! —MJ

As you probably know, the PMA (Photo Marketing Association) convention, the biggest photo industry trade show in the U.S., gets underway in Las Vegas tomorrow.

Most show announcements, of course, take place neither at the show nor during it, but in advance of it. The story of this year's show can pretty much be told by this clip from dpreview's New Product Index:

There have been a few new lenses (all of which we've reported on), and of course the Olympus E-620. Otherwise, it's pretty much consumer digicams, all the way down.*

Mike

*It's a joke that David Vestal likes: a little boy is asked what holds the world up. "A strong man holds the world on his shoulders." But what's the giant standing on? "He's standing on the back of an elephant." And what's the elephant standing on? "On the back of a giant turtle." When asked what the giant turtle is standing on, the little boy thinks for a minute, and then says, "It's just turtles, all the way down."

Reader Federico Bervejillo thinks that Paolo Pellegrin's portfolio of movie star pictures in the Times "shows well the high ISO capabilities of the new digital cameras." Interestingly, the camera makes the credits, which read: "Equipment / Canon."

Sunday, 01 March 2009

I just did something I've only been meaning to do for a year and a half—I wrote up some Comment Guidelines. Not required reading, by any stretch, but if you're interested in how I edit and post comments, here ya go.